Looking for the perfect holiday entrée? Something nutritiousyet easy on the Earth? Something with a subtle, yet distinctive, je-ne-sais-quoiflavor? Have you considered the humble mealworm? What about the super superworm?

Before you click away in disgust, remember that the creeping, shelled, 10-legged crustacean we now so lovingly dip in butter (ahem, the lobster) was once considered so repulsive as to be inhumane to feed to prisoners. And in many parts of the world, insects are already a popular—and important—menu item.

Currently, more than two thirds of all agricultural land is used for animal production (whether housing the animals themselves or growing feed crops for them). This whole process—from fertilizing grain to raising (farting) cows to shipping milk—produces some 15 percent of all human-generated greenhouse gasses. Many climate-minded researchers have advocated switching to a more plant-based diet as a way to reduce these harmful emissions. But bugs might be an opportunity to keep animal protein on the menu.

Mealworms might be more familiar to pet owners as reptile, fish or bird food. But these insects are already available freeze-dried, canned or live for human consumption and can be baked into breads and cookies, deep fried with potatoes for more nutritious French fries or simply roasted with some salt for a protein-rich snack.

For the new study, researchers examined the process of raising these two insects—the “cradle-to-farm-gate approach,” as they noted. Dennis Oonincx, of the Department of Plant Sciences, and Imke de Boer, of the Animal

Department of Animal Sciences (both at Wageningen University) studied a Dutch mealworm producer called van de Ven Insectenkwekerij in the town of Deurne. The worms were fed a diet of carrots and mixed grains. The insects also required recycled cardboard egg trays, a climate-controlled rearing station (which requires natural gas and electricity), cages, as well as water.

Nevertheless, they appeared to be a more sustainable source of protein than beef, pork, chicken or milk. To produce one kilogram of protein, including feed growing, the mealworms required just one tenth the amount of land required to produce one kilogram of beef—and much less than chicken, pork and milk, too.

Producing one kilogram of mealworms generated about 2.7 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent in greenhouse gas (mealworms do not produce earth-warming methane, like gassy ruminants do, although the worms do produce their own tiny manure), which is far less than the standard livestock lineup. The lion’s share (42 percent) of the mealworms’ greenhouse gas contribution came from producing and transporting grain feed (26 percent of the CO2 came from the heating gas; 17 percent came from the electricity; and 14 percent came from the production and transportation of carrots).

The study authors suspect that with additional research, the bugs could become an even more Earth-friendly option. “Over the last two decades productivity of chickens and pigs has increased annually by 2.3 percent, due to the application of science and new technologies,” they wrote in their paper. “Further improvement of the mealworm production system by, for instance, automation, feed optimization or genetic strain selection is expected to increase productivity and decrease environmental impact.”

The mealworms are already quite efficient at turning mealworm food into mealworm-based food for humans. They can convert about 2.2 kilograms of food into a kilogram of total bug weight (which is similar to chickens and a much better rate than pigs and cows). They are also proficient reproducers.

The female mealworm T. molitormatures in about 10 weeks and will lay some 160 eggs in her short three-month life; and the impressive female superworm Z. morio reaches maturity in three and a half months and can lay some 1,500 eggs in her year of life.

Perhaps most important, the authors concluded, was the mealworm’s small land demand. Forest clearing for agricultural use is a major global contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. “Since the population of our planet keeps growing, and the amount of land on this earth is limited, a more efficient, and more sustainable system of food production is needed,” Oonincx said in a prepared statement. “Now, for the first time, it has been shown that mealworms, and possibly other edible insects, can aid in achieving such a system.”

So perhaps insects will someday graduate from novelty candy and double-dare tequila shots to a meal’s main attraction. Even if they aren’t yet replacing many holiday hams.

Already have, meal worms aren't bad. Crickets and grass hoppers are good. Had a scorpion, and some kind of spider but can't remember what it was. Meal worms were in chocolate, and also had some that were alive. Not bad, a little crunchy in chocolate, when alive was different, moving around and s---... A little pop here and there, but didn't taste bad. Crickets and grass Hooper's were also in chocolate, tasted like nuts. Scorpion was boiled, tail removed. Did not like it, hard to say what it tasted like was only able to eat one bite. The spider was fried, down in one bite.

After having goat's blood soup once on a dare from my uncle, I'd try just about anything. It would really have to be bad to be more disgusting than that. (Goat's blood soup basically consists of warmed goat's blood with some seasonings, that's it.)

With growing drought and an inefficient agricultural system (not to mention the world's bees careening for extinction), there are fears that someday soon, there will no longer be enough meat-based protein to keep the world from going hungry.

It has been suggested that eating bugs could actually help slow climate change, and a United Nations report actually endorsed the commercial cultivation of insects as a way to fight world hunger. The Lepsis Terrarium is the perfect device for getting an early jump on this alternative food revolution right in your own home.

It might sound like a joke, but the Lepsis Terrarium was designed by Mansour Ourasanah in conjunction with Kitchen Aid, a well-known manufacturer of kitchen appliances. It is designed to provide the perfect habitat for raising grasshoppers, a significant source of protein in many parts of the world.

"Limited by space and energy, the design acts a vessel for manually growing, feeding, harvesting and neatly killing insects before turning them into food," Ourasanah writes. "The product is made up of four individual units that, when assembled, perform the dual function of insect breeder and decorative kitchen product."

The device, which looks like an oversized Mason jar, has a removable top. Inside, an intricate set of hexagonal green plates provide the food, heat and air needed for the insects to grow.

By creating an attractive appliance and turning the raising of insects into a neat, tabletop affair, Ourasanah and KitchenAid hope to reduce the ick factor, and turn more people in the developed world on to the idea of bugs for lunch.

Although the Lepsis Terrarium is still in the prototyping stage, it is currently a finalist for an INDEX design award.

If I had to. It's one of those things that as long as it's not poisonous, it's really just a matter of getting used to it and getting over ingrained perceptions. I know some people who are completely grossed out by any seafood whatsoever and refuse to eat it. I grew up fishing and gutting and cooking what I caught so I love all types of seafood. Used to hunt for fresh oysters on the rocks at low-tide as a kid. Slurrrrrrp!